Irrelevant Jack 3

by Prax Venter

  “Obviously, the fire needs to go out first,” Farah whispered as they crouched behind the slight curve in the fissure leading back to where they started.

  Jack turned to face Alt. “Do you think I could use Omni Strike to hit the campfire?”

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “I’ve scanned plenty of elemental-type weaknesses on monsters within the Tower and that unusual entity seems to be 100% immune to everything but standard melee attacks.”

  “Either way,” Haylee said, “we should be careful not to kill any of them until the fire is out.”

  Lex nodded. “Yes, I think that’s wise. I know I can hold the one on the ground, but those ranged attackers up on the platforms are going to complicate many of our plans.”

  “It has to either be sneak or speed,” Farah said, indicating herself first, then Jack. “Right?”

  Jack shook his head. “Between those two options, it should be me dashing out there. My movement speed will always be on, but once you pop your Hide, you’d be stuck in the middle of all that.”

  “I can run in with you and Shout,” Lex said. “If I hold back, I should at least be able to draw the one on the ground for the time you need.”

  “And I should be able to snipe one of the crossbow-wielders in the spine,” Haylee said, “at the right time.”

  “Hold a moment,” Farah said, “If Haylee can take out one of the skeletal rangers, and Lex can pull the one with the poleaxe, it makes more sense for me to sneak in and kick the sand over those flames. Despite your speed boost, you’d likely be a pin cushion by the time you reached it straight on.”

  She had a point. After talking it over every way they could think of, a coordinated assault seemed to be the best way to go. The party got into position along the curve of the volcanic pass and watched Farah start their plan by swiftly creeping forward and fading from sight.

  Jack counted to five before he and Lex rushed out to get the monsters’ attention. The minotaurs on the watchtowers leveled their weapons on each of them and lined up their targets.

  Pushing his boots into the sand, Jack dove to the left as Lex hunkered down behind her shield, and neither of them were damaged by the powerfully fast projectiles. Jack summersaulted back up onto his feet and let the move translate into speed as he circled around the left platform.

  Lex advanced toward the charging Bone Minotaur on the ground and took another bolt on her shield before she began to defend against brutal melee hits as well.

  Then Farah quietly kicked the campfire out with her boot.

  Eternal Flame -10 | Defeated

  The crossbow-wielding skeletons turned to fire on her, but the one that had been shooting at Lex was blown apart by a Blue Shifted Light Ray.

  Bone Minotaur Critical! -1280 | Defeated

  The Shadow Blade sprinted toward the platform with the remaining foe to try and break its line of sight, but she was still struck in the shoulder as Jack and Alt opened up their ranged attacks on the monster’s exposed weak point.

  Farah -228 | HP 441/669

  Bone Minotaur Critical! -472 | HP 728/1,200

  Bone Minotaur Critical! -752 | Defeated

  That left the one fighting Lex with a poleax, and when Jack turned to see how she was doing, a smile grew on his face. The petite Bastion snarled as she assaulted the eight-foot horned skeleton with her blade. The longer weapon it held was largely ineffective as she pressed the attack, keeping within close range.

  With all five party members free to focus down the final monster, the battle was ended quickly.

  “Not fast enough,” Farah said with a half-smile as she rolled out her shoulder.

  “I’m not terribly surprised we’re taking some damage on Floor 49,” Lex said before she healed Farah back up to full.

  During their short rest before moving on, Jack found a leather chest-slot item with a high hit-point value and an upgrade for Lex.

  Ashen Hide Doublet - [Chest | Value: 245]

  | Def: 109 |

  | Max HP +200 |

  | Max MP +50 |

  When she put on the new gear, Jack did a double take when he saw the bottom of the small, dark-gray armor came to a point and left a sliver of her hips exposed.

  “I’ve seen you wear a least a hundred pieces of armor, and this has to be my favorite.”

  The pointed-eared Bastion gave him a smirk and then tilted her head toward the path on the other side of the plateau.

  “We ready to move out?”

  The party of Heroes progressed up the island into another fold in the land created by flowing lava that had cooled long ago. The sandy path took another quarter turn around the volcano until they came to a breathtaking sight.

  The black stone was gouged away as if a massive claw had torn out the back half of the volcano and wedged into the far wall was a twenty-foot portal to another world. The ground was still sand, but pools of lava now dotted the enormous flat surface between them and the bizarre doorway. Standing guard were four more Bone Minotaur creatures, and each clutched a twohanded claymore- and instead of one Eternal campfire, there were two.

  “Is that a doorway punching through the middle of the volcano?” Farah whispered.

  “Looks like it,” Jack answered as they moved back down the path again to discuss their plan of attack. The campfires were spread out this time meaning attempting the same trick would be more of a risk. They were thinking about just having Jack and Farah run for one each when Haylee proposed the possibility of drawing them back to the platforms they’d just cleared.

  “If Alt and I each get up on one, we might be able to do some serious damage before they can climb up. If they try, Lex and Jack will be there to clean them up.”

  “Way to abuse the environment,” Jack said, shooting her a smile.

  Farah tapped her chin. “Ah, and I’ll hide as our King draws them past. What if they turn around when I kick out the fires?”

  The Dark Prism cast her eyes downward to think but came up with a solution quickly.

  “I’ll shoot a Light Ray up into the sky when they reach the platforms, and we’ve already engaged them. That way they’ll have no reason to come back, and if they do, we can hit them in their weak spots.”

  “A marvelous idea,” Alt said, dipping his black eyes.

  “Right,” Jack said, rubbing his hands together. “I love this. Let’s head back down to that last area and set up our ambush.”

  A few minutes later, Jack and Farah stood as close as they dared to the opening at the top of the volcano. He checked with the Shadow Blade and she gave back a nod, so with a breath to concentrate, Jack flashed his sword across the air and struck all four foes twice.

  Bone Minotaur -192 | HP 1,008/1,200

  Bone Minotaur -192 | HP 816/1,200

  … x3

  Jack sheathed his weapon and waited long enough to make sure they were all following him. The undead creatures lowered their horns in unison and began charging at the opening.

  With Farah gone from sight, Jack spun around and began sprinting away as fast as he could. He’d spent a lot of time fighting on sandy Floors or walking on Blackmoor’s beach so he’d become accustomed to its shifting nature and dashed down toward their ambush like the wind.

  A white filament of light passed over Jack’s shoulder as Haylee sniped one of the monsters in the face.

  Bone Minotaur -323 | HP 685/1,200

  He’d apparently rounded enough of the path to lure them into her line of sight, yet the thundering hooves behind shook the ground, and Jack was encouraged to summon up all the speed he could manage. If all four caught hold of him, no one would be close enough to prevent him losing far more Hit Points than he cared to think about.

  The Dark Prism was able to get two more shots off before the downward-slanting path became blocked again by volcanic rock. After a span of about six seconds that felt much longer, Jack sprinted out into the plateau where Lex waited on the ground and their two ranged attackers waited on the crude, driftwood platforms.
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  A line of white appeared from Haylee’s bow and connected to one of the monsters behind him, bringing each foe equally to about half of their health. Without looking back, Jack dashed past the two platforms as Lex let out a sharp Shout, and a shimmering bubble of her ability-infused voice radiated outward. All four of the Bone Minotaurs turned to face the Bastion as Haylee shot her bow straight up into the sky and sent Farah the message that it was time to close the jaws on this ambush.

  Jack lifted his sword to switch on his Mining Laser as Alt sent a pair of eyebeams into to the back of another.

  Bone Minotaur -241 | HP 444/1,200

  Bone Minotaur Critical! -749 | Defeated

  The giant skeleton dissipated into buzzing static and it was clear that Farah had done her part of the plan.

  Lex focused on deflecting a few hits before Haylee took one of hers out as Jack ducked a swipe and finished his off with a swift counter Double Strike to its thick femur.

  With only one left, that battle was over quickly and not one point of damage taken.

  “Such a great idea!” Jack yelled up to Haylee who, against her normally reserved nature, gave him back a small curtsy.

  They met Farah on her way back down and all returned as a group back around the volcanic island up to the strange portal in its back. The black rock below their feet was smooth as glass as they moved through the perfectly square pools of lava bubbling with impossible heat. Fighting those massive animated creatures around these would have been insane.

  “That’s a lot of red,” Farah said as they all stared through the jagged portal to another place.

  “It’s a topographical copy of this layout, but from a perspective of where we started down by the water,” Alt said. “The same place under different conditions.”

  “Different conditions?” Jack’s brow came down as he studied the landscape on the other side. “It looks like a world made from raw meat…”

  - 20 -

  “We’ll accomplish nothing standing here,” Haylee said and put her hand through the portal. Nothing happened, so she stepped through and began scanning the new area.

  “It’s not pleasant,” she said, with a small wrinkle in her nose.

  Everyone else moved through after her and one reality ended as another began. The two dimensions pressed against each other in the shape of a wide rectangle, and the blue sky through the portal behind clashed violently with the dark-red sky, sea, and land around them. Looking down at the squishy ground-meat, Jack found the it was marbled with fat and oozing with blood in a few places. The volcanic rocks of the island were now made from flesh and stretched up to form a skin-volcano.

  “This is a nightmare,” Lex said as she stared out over the ocean of thick red blood.

  “A second Floor 49?” Farah asked, testing her footing.

  Jack took a deep breath of the coppery air turned to face the meaty beach ahead.

  “We haven’t found the Boss yet, so we keep fighting.”

  Gathering his party with a glance, Jack led them around the stagnant blood and followed the same path they’d taken before. In this world, the beach was an enormous slab of wet exposed muscle. Where the minotaur skeletons had lounged around by their fire before, there was now a single floating ghost-like monster made of skin. The top of the flapping sheet of flesh was a pinched-off lump that appeared to be a deformed cow head with rolling brown eyes far too large for the rest of the bizarre creature below.

  “I’m not seeing any fires,” Lex whispered as she scanned this first combat area.

  Jack shook his head. “No fire, but a huge skin monster.”

  “The eyes are their weakness,” Haylee said after using one of the abilities under her Vexer Path.

  The Bastion turned to face everyone in the party and offered a course of action.

  “We can’t assume anything about these, so we start with Haylee sniping from a distance and draw it to us. I’d like Jack up with me from now on and have you, Farah, ready to ambush as soon as they close the distance. Alt, you stay behind Jack and focus fire with him.”

  Everyone agreed and took up their positions. Jack shot his wife a confident glance before turning to face their next deadly challenge together.

  Haylee drew her bow and fired her Blue Shifted Light Ray directly into the monster’s bulbous eye, and the team braced for anything.

  Skin Minotaur Critical! -1,266 | HP 322/1,588

  It wasn’t quite enough to kill the huge creature and the hovering sheet of skin locked its over-sized eyes on Haylee. Then she instantly became engulfed in white fire.

  Haylee -200 | 295/495

  The young Hero screamed as she was burned alive by magical fire, and the distant monster hovered toward her with sickening speed.

  The Bastion shifted her position to block its line of sight on the Dark Prism as Jack and Farah began sprinting forward to get into range. The sheet of hanging skin puffed out its body as if it were jellyfish and rose up to find Haylee again with its engorged eyes.

  Haylee -200 | 95/495

  Jack clenched his jaw and flashed his sword up into the air, willing his double Omni Strike to cut deep.

  Skin Minotaur -192 | HP 130/1,588

  Skin Minotaur -192 | Defeated

  Haylee fell to her knees on the red meat ground, weeping, as Lex unequipped her held items and wrapped her arms around her. Jack, Alt, and Farah stood guard while the Bastion sung her healing song, holding the young Hero tight to her chest.

  “Thank you, Lex,” Haylee said, after a short rest and her composure had returned. “I do not like this second layout.”

  Farah crossed her arms. “You and me both.”

  “It appears these new monsters can deal great damage to anyone they see,” Alt said, floating close to Haylee, “similar to Omni Slash, but for one target only.”

  “Too bad we can’t use your sand-in-the-eyes trick,” Farah said, turning to Jack.

  Jack clenched his fists. “I should stop holding back my over-powered synergy on single monsters. We know that Haylee and I can take one of these out if we combine our most powerful attacks, but if we move through that pass and find two, three… or more, we might want to think really hard about turning around. I will not risk losing any of you for one more Level.”

  He gazed up to the top of the skin-covered mountain that dominated this bizarre dimension, and his mind went back to the previous Floor. Disgust soaked through Jack’s mind for once caring about the lives of these Tower creatures. They’d been doing absurdly well and watching Haylee almost-

  His rage-inducing thoughts faded as Lex laced her fingers through his, and Jack turned to look into the eyes of his wife and queen.

  “We will do it what it takes,” she said, “be that Exiting now or fighting on. As long as we are alive and together, we are winning this game.”

  It was the first time she’d seriously referred to her life as a part of a game, and Jack pulled her close. After their embrace, Jack turned to Haylee.

  “You ready to see what lies ahead, little one?”

  She held her large gray eyes on him and then nodded. “I will always want to know what lies hidden from sight.”

  The party began moving across the squishy “beach” as they made their way toward the fleshy crag leading deeper into this identical layout. Jack’s mind raced trying to come up with clever plans. Using his new cloak to cover the Dark Prism after she fired seemed promising, but these foes weren’t immobile and there was no telling what they would do if they reached her- or if that would work at all and she’d be turned into a bonfire anyway.

  They passed through the skin-covered fissure a quarter turn around the grisly mirror island, and Lex called for a stop when the next area came into view. Instead of platforms and multiple enemies, there was only one skin minotaur waiting for them.

  “I’ll slash first,” Jack said. “Then, you shoot. Got it?”

  Haylee nodded, and he gave a short countdown before drawing his sword. The countless hours of fighting
together had honed their teamwork, and the weight of the current situation sharpened their focus further.

  In a perfect display of coordination, Jack saw three damage icons appear in quick succession and the creature was vanquished before it could locate either of them for an attack.

  “Good,” Jack said with a sigh of relief.

  The party waited ten minutes for Haylee’s Blue Shift and then continued up and around the skin folds until they came to the same carved-out chunk as before. Instead of pools of lava, there were now pools of blood and behind them was yet another doorway. Jack’s heart sank as he wondered how many versions of this strange island they’d have to face, and it sunk further from the sight of two Skin Minotaurs blocking the way.

  “They don’t look much like damn Minotaurs,” Jack muttered to himself.

  “We’ll probably have to take some more damage,” Lex said, surveying the landscape. “We should do the same thing we just did, but you two will pull back around this corner and out of sight. If the second one comes to find its attackers, I’ll pull it with a Shout and soak up the flames while the rest of you destroy it.”

  “I wish I could Ambush its eyes,” Farah said. “But they are much too high.”

  Angry Sun Alt floated close to her. “Your non-critical Ambush combined with Jack and I striking an eye with our ranged abilities should be more than enough to do the job.”

  Jack tried to think of any way to abuse this layout, but everything was blood, meat, or skin… not much to really work with. He thought about going back to the beach level and grabbing a handful of sand but trying to run up close and blind them was not a smart idea.

  Lex addressed his concerns before he could voice them. “It’s my job to take damage. It’s yours to destroy monsters before I take too much.”

  “Fair enough,” Jack said. “Let’s do this.”

  Haylee and Jack got into position near the fleshy wall surrounding the meaty ground in the side of the volcano and pulled the same trick they’d done before, except Jack hit both targets for double melee damage.

  Skin Minotaur -192 | HP 1,396/1,588